Bicycle driving-gear.



No. 629,635'. Patented July 25, |899.

c. wEsTALL.

BICYCLE DRIVING GEAR.`

(Application led June 4, 1808 (No Model.)

l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES VESTALL, OF MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT, ASSIGNO OF ONE-HALF TO THEODORE HENCKELS, OF SAME PLACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 629,635, dated July 25, 1899.

y Application ined June 4, 1898. serial No. 682,604. (No model.)

'in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

l This invention relates to drivingfgear for l bicycles and other chain-propelled vehicles,

and has for its primary and main object to dispense with the usual driving-chain and friction incident to the use thereof and to substitute therefor a simple construction of driving-gear which is applicable to any ordinaryform of safety-bicycle, thus adapting the ordinary driving-chain and sprockets to be removed from the machine and to be replaced by the improved mechanism hereinafter described. p

The detailed objects and advantages of the invention Will be fully pointed out inA the course of the subjoined description.

The invention consists in driving=gear for bicycles embodying certain novel features and details of construction and relative disposition of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings, and incorporated in the claim hereto appended.

In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure l is a side elevation of a sufficient portion of a bicycle to illustrate the application of theimproved driving-gear thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal section taken be` tween the bearing plate or bracket and the clutch on the hub of the axle, showing the clutch and the gears. Fig. 3 is a detail horizontal section showing the manner in which the several gears intermesh. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail section th-rough theyclutchon the hub of the rear wheel, showing the friction devices and their actuating means. Fig. is a detail view showing the inner disk or collar with its pinion.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures ofthe drawings.

In the drawings I have shown the improved drivin g-gear as applied to an ordinary safetybicycle, in which 1 designates the rear or driving wheel; 2, the 'rear braces; 3, the bottom runs; 4, the seat-post tube, and 5 the crankhanger. The axle 6 of the driving-wheel is stationary, as usual, 4and.mounted to turn loosely upon said axle between the fork and wheel is a friction collar or disk 7, which fits snugly Within a surrounding band or collar S, bolted or otherwise secured flxedly to the hub of the rear wheel and containing a plurality of sockets or recesses 9, the outer walls of which converge toward the outer edge of the collar 7. Three of such sockets or recesses 9 are shown; but more or less maybe employed, as deemed most expedient. Within each socket is mounted a clutch in the form of a roller 10, which is actuated toward the narrow end of the socket by means of a spiral spring 11 exerting a constant pressure against the same, so as to take up any lost motion and cause the clutch as a whole to act in a quick and reliable manner. Thus when rotary motion is imparted to the collar 7 it will, through the agency and cooperation of the rollers 10,l take up and actuate the surrounding collar 8, which being secured fixedly to the driving wheel imparts rotary motion thereto for propelling the machine ahead.

The collar or disk 7- isprovided on its outer side with a spur-pinion 12, which meshes with and is actuated by a pair of spur-gears 13 and 14, mounted one in rear and the other in ad- Vance .of the axle of the driving-wheel, each fast upon a short transverse axle 15, j ournaled in an oblique] y extending or inclined bearing plate or bracket 1G, mounted fast with relation to the machine-frame between the rear fork and the adjacent side of the driving- Wheel. On the outer end of each shaft 15 is a spur-pinion 17, and these two spur-pinions mesh with and are actuated by alarge spur IOO working up and down in a substantial] y vertical housing or bar 22, slotted throughout nearly its entire length and supported at its upper end by means of a bracket 23, conelevate the pedal-lever after it has been de pressed bythe foot of the rider.

It will be apparent that the mechanism hereinabove described is duplicated upon each side of the machine, and the action of the pedal-levers is therefore independent and it is possible for the machine to be driven by one foot alone or by both feet at the same time or alternately. Then the pedal-levers are at the upper limit of their stroke, the drivingwheel of the machine is left free to continue its forward rotation and there is no friction between the parts o f the driving mech- V9. It is also Within the scope of this invention to cover in the entire gearing by means of a suitable gear-case. These and other changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Vhile the driving-gear has been described in connection with a bicycle, it is obvious that it may be employed on any kind of footpropelled vehicle. Ball-bearings may be elnployed in connection with the rearaxle, as shown in Fig. i, and also in connection with the other gear-wheels and pedal-levers wherever it may be deemed expedient.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is*

The combination with the driving-whee1 of a bicycle, of a collar fast on the hub of the driving-Wheel, a friction-collar mounted Within the same and designed to be thrown into clutched engagement with the collar on the driving-wheel, a concentric pinion fast on saidinner collar, a stationary bearing-plate interposed between the frame and one side of the driving-Wheel, gears Ajournaled on said plate, a pedal-lever journaled on the axle outside of the frame, a gear-wheel fast to said lever and meshing with the aforesaid gears, and means for elevating the free end of said lever independently of the leverV on the other side of the machine.

In testimony whereof l affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES WES'IALL.

lVitnesses:

Il. L. SHELDON, OTTO P. Moor-m. 

